Lucas: Virginia Rapid Reactions

By Adam Lucas

1. Carolina started too poorly and shot too poorly to win at Virginia, falling for a seventh straight time to the Cavaliers, 60-48. Six of those seven defeats are by eight points or more.

2. The combination of Virginia's stingy defense and Carolina's shooting struggles was too much to overcome. As will be well documented, the Tar Heels made just two three-point shots, both of them by Kerwin Walton. Other than Walton, the rest of the team combined to go 0-for-10 from the arc. Carolina shot 34.5 percent from the field.

3. What may be less documented: the Tar Heels simply weren't effective enough in the paint to win the game. The play-by-play stats from the game charted Carolina at 13-for-28 on layups or dunks. Now, some of those shots classified as "layups" were actually difficult shots, not just a simple wide-open layup. But the fact remains that shooting below 50 percent on the shots closest to the rim will not beat a team like Virginia. The Cavaliers, of course, are annually one of the best teams in the country at defensive two-point percentage, and came into the game second in the conference in league games in that category.

4. For the second straight game in which Carolina was coming off a week layoff, the first half wasn't a vintage offensive performance. Carolina scored 18 points in the first 20 minutes, a season low--and the previous season low was the 21 point performance against Clemson after the other week layoff--and tied for the lowest in the Roy Williams era (another 18-point half performance came last season in Charlottesville). The Tar Heels were down 21-4 midway through the half, and finished the period shooting 25 percent from the field and 0-for-9 from three-point range.

5. Day'Ron Sharpe has had an impressive freshman season and is relentless on the backboards. He came into Saturday's game shooting 53 percent from the field, but that number could be even higher if he would turn some of his point-blank misses into makes. He missed a couple of layups in the first half. Roy Williams emphasized to Sharpe in practice this week the importance of converting when he gets easy opportunities.

6. One of the things that makes Virginia so tough is that they are completely committed and effective at doing what they do best. Carolina failed to do what it does best early in the second half, coughing up four offensive rebounds to the Cavaliers in the first five minutes of the half, which led to five second chance points. In a low possession game, against a team as efficient as the 'Hoos, you simply can't give up those opportunities.

7. A couple failed box outs during that stretch led to some early second half minutes for Walker Kessler. The big freshman had an encouraging showing in his 12 minutes, his most playing time since the loss at NC State in December and tied for the most this season. Kessler is obviously still a work in progress, but showed a nice touch on a fallaway jumper and swishing three of his four free throws, an area that was an issue for him earlier in the year. With a full summer in Chapel Hill to play against pros and work in the weight room, the Georgia native is going to be a very good player for Carolina next season. Kessler set his career high with nine points; he'd scored a combined ten points in ACC play prior to Saturday night.

8. On a day when no Tar Heel reached double figures (we're still looking for the last time that happened, but rest assured it's been quite a while), Armando Bacot didn't have a vintage scoring night, but he was a workhorse on the backboards, grabbing ten rebounds.

9. Freshmen scored 36 of Carolina's 48 points and also had six of the team's eight turnovers.

10. Another troubling offensive stat: Carolina went just 6-for-12 from the free throw line, while Virginia hit 12-for-19. That means the Cavs had a six point advantage at the free throw line and a 24 point advantage from the three-point line.

11. Some unusual circumstances contributed to the situation, of course. But the fact remains that Saturday was Carolina's fourth straight ACC road game. It's the first time since the 1970-71 season that the Tar Heels have played four straight league road games in the same season. Even in 1970-71, the first road game of that sequence was played against Clemson in Charlotte.

12. Now things get a little tricky. Tuesday's game against Virginia Tech has been postponed by the ACC. Miami plays tomorrow night at Notre Dame and then doesn't play in the midweek, so that would make the Canes a logical opponent if the league wants to fill a hole in the schedule.

Players Mentioned

Armando Bacot

Walker Kessler

Day'Ron Sharpe

Kerwin Walton

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